I hope to be alive and voting for many more presidential elections, so I’ll still be working on this. Incidentally, I think Obama would/will make a fine president. 4 years ago

for Hillary Clinton! She’d be the best choice for President of America in my opinion. 5 years ago

i think the values of a person are more important than their gender 5 years ago

OI! HILLARY’S GONNA WIN!SO KICK ROCKS IF U DISAGREE! 5 years ago

I voted a woman president last time we had elections, and now she is leading the country! 6 years ago

keeping it on my radar screen for the next upcoming election. 6 years ago

I’ll move this back on to my list in 2008. 6 years ago

In Pennsylvania, Democrats have marked Rep. Jim Gerlach as the most vulnerable Republican to oust in November’s midterm elections, Allison Stevens reports today. Challenger Lois Murphy, a lawyer and mother of two children, hopes to prove them right.

CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Murphy Battles for Pennsylvania Swing District
By Allison Stevens
Washington Bureau Chief

KUTZTOWN, Pa. (WOMENSENEWS)-Hobbling on a twisted ankle past tractor displays, sheep corrals and all manner of fried foods, Pennsylvania political hopeful Lois Murphy spent a recent afternoon trying to convince people at a small-town fair here to try something new: back a Democrat for the House of Representatives.

It’s a message she’s been spreading through this Republican-leaning district northwest of Philadelphia for the better part of three years now, ever since she first decided to run against the incumbent Republican representative, Jim Gerlach.

Murphy lost her first attempt in 2004, but came within a hair-6,371 votes-of pulling off what would have been a stunning upset in an otherwise bad year for the Democratic Party. Gerlach’s margin of victory was the smallest for any incumbent reelected that year.

But this year will put her over the top, says Murphy, a leading candidate in a crop of more than 230 women who have filed for party nomination in this year’s midterm congressional elections.

A poll conducted last month by Democratic polling firm Garin Hart-Yang Research Group showed Murphy basically tied with Gerlach; she was favored by 42 percent of those polled, he by 41 percent. The candidates have also raised about the same amount-slightly more than $2 million each—according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

“The voters of the district, like voters in a lot of the Northeast, have really become persuaded that it’s time for a change,” Murphy said at an informal house party held in her honor on Aug. 17 before she headed across town to the local fair.

Republicans “are really grasping at straws at this point” she continued. “On all of the major challenges that are facing people right now, they are letting people down, and people know it.”

Gerlach did not return calls for comment. But he has sought to distance himself from President Bush. In one of his televised campaign ads he says, “When I think he’s wrong, I let him know that.”

Gerlach, a two-term incumbent, represents a district that was redrawn after the 2000 census to slightly favor Republicans, although it backed Democrats in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.

Gerlach Strikes Moderate Stance
He has worked to position himself as a moderate to appeal to constituents in this swing district. He has voted against GOP-led efforts to amend the Constitution to prohibit gay marriage and to cut $40 billion from federal social service programs.

He has also voted to ban degrading treatment of U.S. detainees and repeal restrictions on federal spending on embryonic stem cells, and he touts himself as an environmentalist.

But Gerlach supported President Bush an average of 79 percent of the time between 2003 and 2005, according to Congressional Quarterly, an independent political magazine, and he voted with party leaders an average of 86 percent of the time over the same period. This record puts him in danger in an election year with an anti-incumbent tone.

A poll conducted August 3-6 by the Washington Post and ABC News showed President Bush with a 40-percent job approval rating nationwide. That score dipped considerably in the Northeast, where Bush earned a 28-percent approval rating.

“Being in suburban Philadelphia, you are dealing with a Northeastern region that is very hostile to George W. Bush and you have an incumbent who’s identified with President Bush,” said Jon Delano, a professor of public policy at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and a campaign analyst on Pennsylvania television stations.

Seat Ripe for Takeover
Delano thinks Murphy, a lawyer and mother of two children, has one of the best shots of anyone in her state at unseating a Republican incumbent. “By every Pennsylvania political analysis, this seat is the most ripe for Democrat taking,” he said.

Independent political analyst Charlie Cook, a Washington, D.C.-based author of the non-partisan Cook Political Report, ranked Gerlach as the most vulnerable incumbent in Pennsylvania in his Aug. 16 edition of the report.

Cook gave Murphy, along with Connecticut Democrats Diane Farrell, a selectwoman from Westport running against GOP Rep. Chris Shays, and Joe Courtney, a state lawmaker running against Republican Rep. Chris Simmons, the best odds of defeating Republican incumbents in the Northeast this fall. Cook considers 10 other Republicans in the region in some danger of losing their seats.

If Democrats do well in these districts, it could reverse a trend that has weeded Democrats out of Congress. That shift hit full throttle in 1994, when Republicans wrested control of Congress from the Democrats.

Delano, however, doubts a major partisan shift in Murphy’s region.

“Republicans will remain strong in the Northeast as long as they reflect the values of Northeastern voters,” he said, pointing to two Republican women-Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine-who have easily won reelection to the U.S. Senate. “People are too quick to write national epitaphs.”

Seizing the Advantage
Murphy is working hard to put anti-Bush sentiment to her advantage. “The real turning point was Hurricane Katrina,” Murphy said about the anti-GOP shift she hopes to ride. “That moment was really a reckoning for people when they felt they didn’t feel their government was even accomplishing the basic tasks we expect from our government.”

When it comes to issues that affect women, a key difference between Murphy and Gerlach involves abortion. Murphy supports reproductive choice and Gerlach opposes it; he has voted to make it a crime to transport a minor across state lines to have an abortion, to outlaw procedures banned by “partial birth” abortion laws and to make it a separate offense to violently harm a fetus. He also opposes one of Murphy’s key talking points, an increase in the minimum wage, which would disproportionately affect women because they are more likely to hold low-paying jobs.

Ellen Manderbach, a retiree and a volunteer at the Democratic booth at the Kutztown fair, is buying Murphy’s pitch. Even though the district is full of die-hard farmers of German ancestry who tend to hold conservative views and tend to vote for Republicans, “people are in the right mood to swing to the Democrats,” she said.

Still, the Democratic brand can be a tough sell in a rural and suburban district that hosts Amish and other Pennsylvania Dutch communities that have stubbornly resisted social and technological change for centuries.

Kenneth Lutz, a 70-year-old retired mechanic who was listening to a country music band at the fair, said Democrats don’t offer a better alternative to the GOP.

“The Democrats are really pushing, but they don’t come up with any solutions. They just bash Bush. That’s it.”

Allison Stevens is Washington bureau chief at Women’s eNews.

Women’s eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org.

For more information:
Women’s eNews 2006 Election Coverage:
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2832

Lois Murphy for Congress:
http://www.loismurphy.org/

Jim Gerlach for Congress:
http://www.jimgerlachforcongress.com/

For any comments about this and any other story, please send a letter to the editors at http://www.womensenews.org/letters/discus.pl

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I would vote for Cynthia McKinney if she runs for the office.

Her first action as president could be to start an honest investigation of 9-11 and the part played by the bush family crime cartel and by the CIA. Maybe then she could change the direction of American foreign in order to make allies and friends overseas rather than enemies and victims (by helping people rather than killing them). Maybe then she could divert funds for H-bombs and B1 bombers into schools and hospitals.

All the newly trained scientists could then work to improve the environment rather than poison it and could try to heal the oceanic dead zones, deforestation, global warming, soil depletion, desertification, etc, etc, etc … All the newly trained social workers could heal the fractured relationships between traditional enemies throughout the world. All the newly trained doctors and nurses could heal the bodies and minds of the sick and injured. 6 years ago

I echo the comment about not basing one’s vote solely on gender. I will not vote for Hillary because I don’t like her stance on healthcare and I am extremely mistrustful of the kind of “big government” programs I expect her to support. However, I eagerly look forward to the day when I can cast my vote for a female presidential candidate who reflects my views. The ‘08 election will be the first presidential election I’ll get to vote in, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing the outcome of my prediction that Condoleezza Rice will seek the Republican nomination for President. Although I know that I would need to do a lot more research on her positions if that comes to pass, she seems like someone who’s mostly got her head on straight, except for that administration she’s currently a part of. 6 years ago

Not just any woman, but Hillary Rodham Clinton. 2008. I’m campaigning to the best of my ability even now, as she’s trying to get reelected in the Senate. I proudly drive my car with my Hill Country bumper sticker and talk to anyone I can. Senator Clinton has my vote because of her politics, not because of her sex, but I can completely revel in the thoughts of what would change in the world when the most powerful person in the world is a woman. 7 years ago

It’s official. Michelle Bachelet is our new President.
was it worth it? well, i don’t know yet, ask me in a few years. 7 years ago

i woke up early today and went to vote. there was no lines, thank god. on december, i had to wait like 2 hours to vote.
that’s why i went early today.

im confident michelle bachelet will be our next president 7 years ago

there’s elections in 6 days. it’s the second row, cause the first time the difference wasn’t definitive.
i’m voting for michelle bachelet.
not because she’s a woman, but because she is a good candidate.
the other candidate is not trustworthy.

i am doing everything i can to hekp her win 7 years ago

You know the cliche that says “the world would be much better place runned by women”? I truly believe it. 7 years ago

Preferably a Republican woman for President. 7 years ago

Maybe Livny will do the job in a few years? 7 years ago

I saw a sneak preview of Commander in Chief, and it was good. It seemed very polished (if a little predictable), with good TV drama minus anything that might alienate Democrat or Republican viewers—the new president is an independent, you see.

I would not mind seeing it again, but I don’t have a TV—and it’s not worth buying a TV for… so I guess I’ll only see it occasionally, if I watch with friends. 7 years ago

I’d vote for Hilary Clinton, but not solely because she’s a woman. 7 years ago

She is in my opinion a good president, but I think it’s not her gender that makes her so but her personality and skills. 7 years ago

its about goddamn time, ya know? 7 years ago

but the people of Ireland, have had two differnt women as presidant for the last 15 years. Each of them, in their very different ways, have done us proud! Yay for the Marys!!! 7 years ago

Has everyone heard about the new “West Wing” style drama coming this fall starring Geena Davis as president? Maybe people will get more used to the idea of a woman president once they see it on TV. 7 years ago

What do y’all think of JohnMcCain? 8 years ago

Go on…guess. 8 years ago

It was this one
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/hchr/unhc.htm

Worth doing! 8 years ago

Hillary gets the democratic nomination, and Condoleeza gets the republican nomination. History is made either way!

The White House Project, working to elect a female president of the United States
http://www.thewhitehouseproject.org

A White House Project website encouraging and supporting young women interested in beginning political careers
http://www.voterunlead.org/

The Minnesota Women’s Political Caucus
http://www.mnwpc.org/ 8 years ago